TABLE SET FOR U.S. TABLE TENNIS OLYMPIC QUALIFIER SHOOT OUT
For Immediate Release
For More Information Contact Dave Williams 301-724-2450

HOUSTON, TX - There will be a clear line in the sand between the old hands and the young guns when the USA Table Tennis US Olympic Team Trials begin this Thursday in Houston Texas,

At the top of the men's field, veteran US National Champion Cheng Yinghua, Pan Am Games Gold Medallist David Zhuang and 1996 Olympian Todd Sweeris seem secure in their chances to make the eight person US Team which will compete in the April North American Olympic Qualifier in Rochester, NY against a similar team from Canada. But all eyes will be on two junior players Florida's Keith Alban, who burst into contention at July's US Open, and 14 year old Mark Hazinski from South Bend, Indiana who put in a similar performance at the Las Vegas US Nationals in December.

Caught in the crossfire are 1999 US World Team members Eric Owens, Barney J. Reed and California's Khoa Nguyen, a Silicon Valley programmer who missed narrowly missed the Olympic squad in 1996. Former national intercollegiate champs Brian Pace and Sean Lonergan also have a shot at the top eight.

US national men's coach and former World Top 20 player Dan Seemiller will look on with great interest as his own career as an international player began with a "come from nowhere" qualifier performance to earn a spot on the US World Team in the mid 1970's.

Gao Jun Chang has pre-qualified for the Sydney games on the strength of her World Ranking (the first American player ever to do so) but former Olympians Lily Yip and Diana Gee must play their way uphill onto the team against higher rated Jasna Reed and 1999 US Team member Tawny Banh. Young players will also be on the bubble in the women's competition as Californians Michelle Do and Jackie Lee join Maryland's Vivian Lee among the invited players.

Chang put in the best American international singles performance in decade in 1999, reaching the semi-finals of Womens Singles in the English Open and is considered North America's best hope for a medal performance in Sydney. She had been rated as high as World #3 as a member of the Chinese National Team.

At the end of the four-day round robin event eight men and eight women will make the US Team. Only three men and three women will emerge from that Qualifier and represent North America in Sydney at the 2000 Summer Games.

Invited players to the 2000 USA Table Tennis Olympic Pre-Qualification Trials as of 1/17/00:

MEN
1) Cheng Yinghua (MD)
2) David Zhuang (NJ)
3) Todd Sweeris (MD)
4) Khoa Nguyen (CA)
5) Eric Owens (TX)
6) Barney J. Reed (TN)
7) Brian Pace (FL)
8) Keith Alban (FL)
9) Sean Lonergan (MD)
10) Shashin Shodhan (CA)
11) Randy Cohen (LA)
12) Mark Hazinski (IN)
13) T. J. Beebe (GA)
14) Taju Oshodi (TX)

WOMEN
1) Jasna Reed (MI)
2) Tawny Banh (CA)
3) Lily Yip (NJ)
4) Virginia Sung (NY)
5) Michelle DO (CA)
6) Diana Gee (PA)
7) Simone Yang (OR)
8) Jane Chui (MA)
9) Jackie Lee (CA)
10) Vivian Lee (MD)
11) Mahin Roufeh (TX)